


Three Words

by AstroLatte



Series: Homecoming [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad space jokes, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), But is trying to get better, Canon Compliant, Coran is excited to explain things, Crying, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Fighting, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith's wolf loves him so much, Krolia still doesn't know who half these people are, M/M, Matt is trying his best, Minor Allura/Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Post Season 6, Roadtrip to Earth, Romelle is precious, Romelle likes directions, Shiro still needs that nap, Space Time, Tears, but on purpose, klangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 07:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15044207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroLatte/pseuds/AstroLatte
Summary: "What is going on?" Shiro demands, looking at Pidge and Hunk. "Why are they both yelling in the field?""Matt told us how Keith almost sacrificed himself while fighting with the Blade," Pidge explained, turning to see the two boys circle each other in the grass. "And then Lance completely lost his shit and went storming off to look for him."Lance and Keith both find out about the other's brush with death and are not okay about it.





	Three Words

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for this fandom. I love these gays and their space cat robots so much!
> 
> Sequel to this is "Beating For Two" please head over there and enjoy!

Keith is in the middle of a meeting between Krolia, Allura, Shiro, and Coran when it's mentioned. They're staying on a barren planet while their lions recharge. It's been quintents since they began their journey towards Earth and with the castle destroyed, everyone was forced to cram into each other's lions. Keith, piloting Black, was bunkering with Krolia, Shiro and of course his cosmic wolf, Allura has Coran and Romelle in Blue, Pidge and Matt are in Green while Hunk and Lance carry the rest of their cargo, supplies and of course Kaltenecker in their lions. It's cramped and everyone is exhausted, but it works.

"We need to go to Earth, but we also need to find the rest of the Alteans," Coran explains, pointing to a map. They're huddled around a projection of a course to where Romelle tells them the quantum abyss where the Atlean colony Lotor imprisoned resides. "The amount of quintessence that is currently being harvested and what Hagger is planning on using it for are our two biggest unknowns."

Sitting near them on a boulder, Romelle's ears twitch as she pretends to stare at nothing, petting Keith's wolf who has fallen asleep in the sun. He can recognize the eavesdropping, though, but ignores it.

"Asides from being a magical power resource and the reason behind this entire war, what does quintessence do?" Keith asks because between running between planets with the Blade of Marmora protecting quintessence and being on a floating space whale for two years to find quintessence, he's never actually taken the time to properly ask why quintessence was so important. The look Allura and Shiro give Keith remind him that before his mission, he probably wouldn't have cared.

"It's essentially life itself," his mother explains. "And when wielded by a sorceress like Hagger, it can be used to relive those who have fallen, such as Lotor or Zarkon."

"She's Altean," Allura notes, looking away sadly and Romelle's at full alert now. "And from what I've learned from Lotor, I have a feeling her true identity is that of Honerva, one of Altea's most gifted Alchemists."

"Meaning she's not just good with quintessence, but the best," Shiro notes.

"Righto! See, quintessence is what Alteans use to mend their magic," Coran explains, twirling his mustache around his finger. "And it's because of Princess Allura's strong magical connection that she was able to use quintessence to revive Lance and Shiro here." He wacks Shiro on the back good-naturedly and the man stumbles forward. Still unsteady with only one arm.

Keith nods, but stops quickly, "Wait...Lance didn't die?"

Coran yelps as Allura kicks him in the shin, an eerie quiet dropping over the group. Romelle, lured by the drama, makes her way over and stands next to Krolia. Keith's wolf takes one look at them before teleporting away, most likely to sleep in the Black Lion.

"Which human is that again?" she whispers and Krolia shrugs.

"I think he's the loud one."

Keith feels his cheeks warm, looking at Shiro and Allura for clarity. Allura clears her throat, awkwardly.

"Keith...it was only for a few moments," she tries to explain. She goes through the story of Lance getting hit by the blast of radiation after pushing her out of the way, getting electrocuted and her quickly reviving him. With every word Keith feels a rage build in his chest, threatening to escape his mouth as a scream or vomit. He isn't sure which. It settles as a warm hurt, curling around his heart.

Lance had the audacity to get himself killed and nobody told him?

"Keith..." Shiro offers, putting his hand on his shoulder. Keith faces him, eyes narrow.

"Where is he?"

* * *

"What do you call a tick on the moon?" Hulk is very excited about this joke, so much, in fact, that he ignores Matt who still has his hands out for the socket wrench he's asked for three times.

"I dunno, Hunk," Lance says, handing Matt the wrench and going back to leaning against the cart where Pidge keeps the tools. "What?"

Hunk almost explodes with glee, grinning ear-to-ear, " _A lunatic_."

Everyone boos, even Matt who couldn't have possibly heard the punchline from under the contraption he was fixing. Lance wasn't sure what they were building. Some sort of navigation system for them to get to Earth. Or was it a tracker? Maybe a transporter? Lance stopped asking.

"That was pretty bad, Hunk," Pidge says, popping up from under the hood, face covered in engine oil. "But I'm sure Lance can top that with something even worse."

Spinning a screwdriver in his hand, Lance is pulled from his thoughts and looks up at the other two. "Who me?"

"No, the other guy who thrives off cheesy pickup lines and terrible one-liners," Pidge deadpans, before leaning over the edge of the machine eagerly. "C'mon, sad clown, cheer us up! We've had a stressful few quintents."

"Uh..."

"Oh! That reminds I have a good bad space joke." There's a loud crash as Matt emerges from scrap metal eagerly, hitting his head on the edge of something with a louder bang. Lance wonders if he should get ice for him and perhaps use it as an excuse to leave the conversation. Matt looks unscathed, though. "Okay, so why don’t aliens eat clowns?"

"Because they taste funny?" Lance offers with a shrug and Matt deflates.

"Ah...I guess it was obvious."

"Ack! Sorry, man," Lance winces as Matt dramatically pretends to be hurt. "I didn't mean to bust your punchline like that. Do it again and I can pretend not to know it, alright?"

Matt stops and blinks at him. "Woah, easy, Lance. I was just kidding. It's not a big deal, it was just some funny space jokes. Are you alright?"

Lance sighs, leaning back against the cart with a groan, "Yeah, just...y'know tired."

"Are you still lovesick over Allura?" Pidge asks, suspiciously leering over their glasses.

"Pidge!" Matt warns as his sibling shrugs.

Lance knows he should reply with something witty, but can't muster the strength. He feels the pang of something reeling, but at this point, all his emotions are meshing together. He's both raw and numb. Like a live wire that's burned out, but still warm at the ends.  

"Nah, he's probably just getting homesick," Hunk says and gives Lance a heavy pat on his back. Because it's Hunk, it's a little comforting and causes Lance to break into a small smile. "Sorry dude, but it looks like it'll probably take us at least a phoeb to get to Earth's solar system. And knowing Allura, Shiro, and Keith, they'll have some side missions for us to complete during our trip, too."

"Unless Keith joins his newly discovered mother and pet dog and heads back to the Blade of Marmora." Lance sighs loudly, leaning his head forward into his knees. "To do, I dunno, super cool assassin ninja stuff."

"Yeah, those guys are pretty intense," Matt says, running a hand through his hair as he looks for a drill on the tool cart. "I've heard that they're not afraid of sacrificing themselves for a mission, but after seeing Keith nearly do a suicide dive into the Galran shield?" He shudders at the memory. "That was chilling."

Lance's head whips up like it was yanked by a rope, "What did you just say?"

* * *

"LANCE!" Keith's voice isn't used to all this yelling, but leave it to Lance and his asinine self to bring out the worst in him. He marches around the field looking for signs of his teammates. Even with his extra inches, he can't see over the shrubbery.  "LANCE! GET OUT HERE!"

There are heavy footsteps behind him and Keith spins around, hand instantly on his knife. Then he hears a familiar voice.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?"

"Lance?" Keith calls, hacking at the lawn around him to get a better visual. He hears the footsteps move away from him.

Overlooking the grass from a small cliff above, Romelle and Krolia stand and watch the two paladins argue. Pidge, Hunk, and Matt rush over from their position while Shiro, Allura, and Coran follow behind them.

"What is going on?" Shiro demands, looking at Pidge and Hunk. "Why are they both yelling in the field?"

"Matt told us how Keith almost sacrificed himself while fighting with the Blade," Pidge explained, turning to see the two boys circle each other in the grass. "And then Lance completely lost his shit and went storming off to look for him."

"I don't think I've ever seen Lance this angry before," Hunk adds, turning to Shiro. "I mean, sure, he'll be loud and make a fuss, but he typically runs pretty cold. He took his bayard, too! He's looking for a fight."

Romelle climbs on top of the boulder next to team and Krolia raises her eyebrow at the Altean, "What are you doing?"

"Helping," she says and presses her index finger and thumb into her mouth and blows out a deafening whistle. Everyone looks at her.

"Both of you stop!" she orders at the boys in the field, who for some reason obey and freeze in their tracks. "Lance, take 10 steps to the left!."

After a tick, Lance does as he was instructed, albeit with angry stopping.

"Good, now Keith, take 3 steps to the right."

Keith obeys and Lance can see his figure through the field. This goes on for about five more minutes until he can finally hear Lance's voice.

"Keith?" he jumps a bit over the field to see. For some reason, it feels that the grass was getting taller the more they circled. "Where are you hiding, you asshole?!"

"Oh, I'm the asshole?" Keith yells, taking a handful of dirt and throwing it into the air. It's meant hit Lance but he's too far away so it gets just everywhere. "Even though you went and fucking died!"

"WHAT?!" Pidge and Hunk shriek at the field. "LANCE, DIED?!"

Lance's cheeks heat, his stomach twisting into knots. He didn't want his teammates to know about Allura saving him. He didn't need their mockery of him losing his life and then needing to be rescued by the girl who didn't take him seriously. He doesn't need any of it.

"Shut up, like you're one to talk," Lance huffs, pulling his bayard from his hip and extending it as the broadsword. "You nearly blew yourself up because you think you're such a martyr! Running with your group of suicidal nutjobs for months while we hoped you weren't the next one to get himself killed!"

He spots Keith in the clearing and strikes. Keith sees the sword before he sees Lance, dodging it quickly and rolling into the turf.

"What the fuck?" his voice breaks as he pulls out his knife. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, seriously pissed off," Lance replies, ignoring Romelle's directions from above them. "You have some nerve, leaving the team, going radio silent and then having the balls to try to risk your own life like it doesn't matter." He sees Keith's shadow and swings again, missing.

"I was fighting a war - _ack_! - just like you! I was trying to save you guys!" Keith growls, swinging around to block another of Lance's swings. "But unlike you - _ugh_!- I survived. You gave up your life like it was worthless - like it was nothing!"

Lance pulls back, and Keith can see the hurt in his eyes.

"It was nothing," he says, his voice low. "I did it to protect Allura, and it was easy. My life is easy to give up."

"It shouldn't be!" Keith feels a twist in his gut again, bile boiling up his throat. He bares his teeth and lunges at Lance, knocking him over with a swift kick. He motions to grab his bayard, but Lance quickly rolls away from him. Keith takes a deep breath, listening for footsteps and keeping his guard up.

"Would you have sacrificed yourself for me?" Keith asks, carding himself through the grass. "Would you have taken the hit for me if you knew you were going to die?"

He sees Lance through the blades and is drawn to his face. He looks older, but not in the same way that Keith knows he looks older. He looks worn down and broken. Keith stays low, circling him from behind.

"You wouldn't understand, man..." Lance's voice cracks, and he looks up at the sky of the planet they're stuck on. "My life is...it's the only useful thing left I can give."

Keith has the element of surprise and dexterity on his side, rushing from behind with a jump. Lance sees him, twisting on his back foot and immediately his broadsword morphs into a laser cannon and Keith is blasted at least two meters back. He lands on his back with a loud thud.

"But who was going to tell us that you died, huh? Was Kolivan gonna come to the castle and hand us your stupid folded up jacket and give us condolences?"

Keith raises himself up on his elbows when he's faced with the barrel of Lance's blaster. His eyes travel up to meet the other boys and see tears swelling, threatening to break through.

"Lance...I-"

There's another whistle and they both look up to see Krolia on the rock formation, looking terrified.

"GET OUT OF THERE, BOTH OF YOU!" she screams, Romelle next to her with her hands on her mouth in horror. "THE GROUND ISN'T STABLE!"

"What..." Lance pulls back, looking at the softening soil beneath them. "Oh, quizknack..."

"IT'S A SINKHOLE!"

Keith sees the cracking terrain below them and Lance falls backward, his foot sucked into the ground.

"Lance!" he lunges forward to grab his hand, pulling him out and collapsing their hands together as he sprints forward. He tries to trigger the jets on his suit, but they're jammed. He yells over his shoulder, "Your jetpack! Lance!"

Lance curses and tries to activate his suit which doesn't respond as the ground below them begins to split. "I-it's not working! I think it's 'cause my lion's worn-out, now my suit's out too!"

"Fuck," Keith hisses, letting go of his hand so they can maneuver around a crevasse, the greenery around them falling into the sinkhole. "We gotta make it to the edge."

"And then what?"

Keith sees the end of the field, the ground cutting off to a sharp cliff, overlooking a steap, but not impossible to survive, drop. "We're gonna jump!"

" _We?!_ "

Keith turns back, grabbing Lance's elbow and pulling him to his chest. He wraps his arms around the other boy as he rolls off the side of the cliff, his back and shoulders protecting him as they roll over rocks, sliding down the knoll. They roll until they crash into the back of a cave. Behind them, the falling rocks slam against the cave's opening, piling on top of each other until rendering it closed. After a few ticks of noiselessness, Keith releases Lance from his arms.

They both sit up with a groan, taking stock of their situation. Keith hears dripping of water somewhere in the cavern and feels a breeze flowing through. At least they won't suffocate. Lance is already up and on his feet, the ceiling of the cave two heads taller than him. He pulls his bayard from his hip, and it turns into his blaster.

"Watch your eyes," he says, and the gun whirls before shutting down with a plop. "Ugh, really? This is broken too?"

"It's not surprising. Since the castle is gone, we've been using our lions a lot." Keith explains, making his way over to Lance. By force of habit, he turns to look up at him and sees that they're now the same height. He notes that somewhere deep within himself. He watches as Lance's blaster shifts into a broadsword and he begins hacking away at the rocks. "Dude, that's not gonna work. You're just causing pieces of rock to fly everywhere!"

Lance ignores him, hacking at the rocks harder. Feeling his temper prickle, Keith pulls at the other boy's arm to stop,

"Lance, you're wasting your energy!"

He elbows him away sharply but stops whacking. Keith watches as he takes a deep breath through his nose, holds it, and then exhales out through his teeth. His bayard collapses and Lance returns it to his hip, the red of the weapon clashes against the blue of his suit.

Keith watches as he turns and finds a seat against the far wall of the small cave, next to where a small puddle is forming from the dripping water. Lance leans back, his head resting against the rocks. He hears a noise, echoing through the cave.

Keith turns to Lance, aghast. "Are you...are you laughing right now?

"Yes!" Lance snorts through his nose, his amusement near hysterical as it bounces around them on the alls like a ball. His eyes close tightly as he doubles over, nearly coughing on his own laughter. He takes a deep breath before his eyes meet Keith's. "Ah man...sorry, just fighting with you and trying to beat the snot out of each other just felt really nostalgic."

"Yeah, it did," he agrees and shrugs. He takes a seat next to Lance. "I guess it's nice to have this back."

Keith feels the familiar fluttering in his chest and is instantly reminded of the flashes from the quantum abyss solar flares. Groaning, he rests his head in his hands, remembering the glimpses of his future that included his fight with Shiro, but also snapshots of something else.

Someone else.

He remembers hands holding together, being held in strong arms. Whispers of someone telling him that he was loved and someone else putting a ring on his finger. There was laughter in these visions too. Very familiar laughter.

"Keith?" he hears and suddenly he's up, present and in the cave with Lance, who has a hand on his shoulder and looks concerned. "Did you even hear what I just said?"

Keith shakes his head because he's worried if he opened his mouth he'd vomit his heart in the middle floor. Lance sighs dramatically, rolling his eyes for the full effect.

"I said, I was sorry for trying to blast your face off before," he squeezes his shoulder.

"Oh..." Keith answers eloquently. "Yeah, I guess...me too."

Lance raises an eyebrow, "You guess?"

"Yeah, I mean when I heard that you died - like, actually died - it...scared me."

"Why?"

"Because I care about you!" Keith says, motioning to the air between them. "Your life isn't worthless, you're important to me because we're...y'know!"

"Paladins?"

"No...well yes, but like, deeper than that."

"Friends?" Lance offers and the look Keith gives him is chilling. "Uh, best friends?"

"No, Lance, you're..." Keith laments like his entire soul was about to leave his body. "You're...my rival."

"Oh...oh wow..."

Lance blushes deeply, genuinely taken aback, his mouth opening slightly. Keith can see hints of his teeth from behind his lips. Lance's front teeth are slightly crooked. He doesn't know why he feels the need to note that. "Uh...okay, yeah those are a heavy three words right there."

Keith nods, "You almost died and I wasn't there for you because I was on the universe's slowest moving space whale in the quantum abyss, aging two years in what ended up being months for you guys," he looks up at the cave's ceiling. "But I didn't know that. I wasn't sure what I was going to come back to when we brought Romelle back. What if the war was over? What if you all had gone back to Earth? What if Lotor and Allura were married in the universe's most bizarre royal wedding?"

Lance visibly flinches, the mere mention of the two enough to cause pain.

"Ah, sorry," Keith apologizes. "I know his betrayal was..." he wants to say expected and two years ago he would've but instead he settles for "difficult."

Lance shrugs, "Yeah, that and I guess watching the girl you're crushing on getting with the son of literally the worst monster in the universe ever is also difficult."

Wait, what?

"Allura?" Keith asks, and he's not sure what the question is supposed to be besides just her name. Lance sighs rolling his head to face Keith, face twisting into a miserable look. He's not sure if he's ever seen that look before on Lance. Didn't he yell at him once that frowning causes wrinkles?

"Thanks, but you don't need to hear about my stupid girl problems," he says, but his face softens into something gentle. "I know I've joked around with her, throwing bad lines her way, but I dunno...it felt different once we changed lions. I thought we were getting closer once she was in Blue and just seeing her out there...she's something else."

Lance has such a soft look on his face that Keith feels his chest constricting. The way his blue eyes gaze down at his boots, the pink flush spraying across his cheeks and the way his lips smile just saying her name. He can tell Lance is smitten because he's seen this look before.

Another memory hits Keith as his eyes close. Behind his eyelids he sees Lance looking up, but he can't hear what he's saying or figure out where they are. There a blush across his face and he turns away. He reaches out for Keith's hand and intertwines their fingers. He looks back at him, smiling.

Keith is ripped back to the cave and feels the bile rise in his throat. Why will Lance look at him like that, too? Why is his heart racing? Why were these visions being pulled out from whatever black box his subconscious rightfully stuck them in?

Luckily, Lance doesn't seem to notice the small panic attack he's having as he's still talking about Allura. He feels his chest tighten and wonders if it's claustrophobia or if they really are running out of air.

"But enough about my stupid crush," Lance says and Keith is so sure that the word _crush_ has sent an actual dagger to his heart that he glances down to make sure his knife wasn't sticking out of him. "Going back to what you were saying before, I think it was the same for me when Matt told us that you were ready to smash your jet and sacrifice yourself for us."

He turns around to face Keith fully. "Like, I get how the Blade is a bunch of leaden, harden fighters who have this weird oath of the mission comes before the person and don't care if you have to kill yourself to do it, but that isn't how we do it," he puts his hand over his heart, the blue tiles of his suit glowing underneath. "If Voltron behaved that way, we would've lost every one of us at some point. Especially me and Shiro since we keep managing to get our asses blown up. Seriously, if the healing pod had one of those punch cards, we would've both gotten a free yogurt by now. Shiro probably two, if we're being completely honest."

Keith can't help but find amusement at the unusual but very vivid imagery.

"I know you left us to find your own answers. So, did you?" Lance earnestly asks.

"Yeah...I did," he responds. "I guess it was good I didn't blow myself up against that ship, or else I would have never met Krolia. Even if those two years in the abyss were long, it was great to get to know my mother and to finally understand where I come from, why she left and that I wasn't completely alone."

Lance watches as Keith mindlessly plays with a small rock, "Keith...you weren't alone when you were with us. You know that, right?"

And as much as he tries to fight it, Keith can't help but smile at the other boy. Even after all this time, he still feels the need to make sure that Keith felt included, that he wasn't forgotten. That he belonged.

He adds, "You know how you have that big family back home in Cuba? And that you miss them every day? I only had that feeling once, and it ended when my dad died when I was a kid. Shiro, you guys, Allura and Coran...team Voltron has become my chosen family and leaving you was the hardest decision I've ever had to make."

Keith stops when he hears snuffling and looks to see that Lance was holding back tears, bottom lip quivering.

"Oh my god, don't," Keith warns, feeling his face redden. "Don't you dare start crying in front of me, Lance."

"You weren't a loner bad boy," he sniffs. "You were a sad little kid who just wanted his Glara mom to love him."

"Lance."

"And a pet space wolf too!" Lance gasps, hands over his face as he whispers excitedly. "You probably never had a pet before either!"

Keith's growing blush is enough of an answer and Lance shrieks, "Oh my god, you sad lonely boy! You had no family but were blessed with talent, muscles and now your hair is growing into less of a mullet plus you have a dog! What Faustian bargain did you make in a past life?"

"Apparently one that cursed me with you."

"Well, it cursed me with you too, buddy," Lance smirks, elbowing him in the side. "Did you name the space wolf? Is it named Space Wolf because you are the most unimaginative being in this and every universe?"

"I'll seriously go back to kicking your ass, Lance, I swear to god."

"First of all, don't forget I was about to blast you right in your pretty little face before the sinkhole hit," Lance says holding up a finger and Keith knows being called _pretty_ on top of the other backhanded compliments shouldn't be affecting them but _ugh_. He holds up a second finger, "And second of all, let me enjoy this bonding moment between us since I'm not in a coma this time."

"Stop making this worse for me," Keith grumbles, shaking his head. "I'm trying to be a better communicator and more..." he waves his hands in front of his face, hoping to signal the word before he has to say it. Lance just stares. "y'know...open? I'm opening up right now!"

"You are?!" Lance repeats, blinking widely. "This is you opening up?"

"Yes!" Keith exclaims. "Is it working?"

"Kinda? I think?"

There's a rumble at the entrance and with a loud pop, Keith's cosmic wolf appears. She barks the second she sees Keith, disappears and reappears in his arms, showering his face with licks, tail wagging excitedly.

"You found us!" He scratches her behind the ears. "Aw, I knew you would."

"Yes, what a good girl you are..." Lance says, looking at the wolf with a raised eyebrow before turning to Keith. "Wolfy?"

Keith snorts, getting up to stand, "Nope."

"Spot?" Lance tries, following Keith to the rocks blocking their way out. "Fido? Fufu?"

"No, no and not even close," Keith turns to his wolf, petting her head. "C'mon, blast us out of here."

The comic wolf barks, tail wagging as she teleports to the other end of the cave. With a small glow, she charges a soft blue light before opening her mouth and releasing a powerful beam that destroys the rocks blocking their way. Lance is floored.

"Good job!" Keith gushes as she circles his legs, proud of her work. He turns to Lance, "Ready to get out here?"

"Yes, but I demand to see more of those kinds of crazy space wolf tricks," Lance demands, following Keith outside. He takes a deep inhale and exhales, shoulders relaxing. "Hmm, it's nice to breathe in that fresh, space air."

"Let's meet up with the others, they're probably waiting for us," Keith says, looking over his shoulder to raise an eyebrow at Lance, "Unless there any more emotional baggage you're carrying?"

"Uh, not that I know of." Lance scratches his face, his nose wrinkling in thought. "Although, it's weird. I don't think I've ever told you that I was from Cuba. How did you find out?"

Keith swallows hard and knows it's not a memory in his mind's eye, but another vision. It's them together, in front of their families and friends, exchanging rings. Krolia is there. Shiro is there. Coran, Allura, Pidge, Hulk, Matt...and, of course, Lance's entire family. It's warm. They're on Earth. There's peace.

He thinks of Slav and his constant calculations of alternate realities. He wonders how likely are the ones that he's seeing with Lance. Will something happen and suddenly it's Keith sitting with Coran, watching him and Allura exchange rings? Is the future cemented or just a possibility? And how much did Keith want that possibility to become a reality?

"Keith?" Lance asks again and he knows he needs to change the subject.

"Shiro told me offhandedly when trying to describe you to me," he lies, waving it away. "I was asking him why I couldn't remember you at the Garrison since you were so deadset on beating me at everything."

"I did beat you, Drop Out!" Lance fought and the relief spreads throughout Keth's chest. He banters with Lance, happily following his wolf back to where the others were waiting for them near the sinkhole. He holds his visions close to his heart, even though they currently sting, in hopes that he can defy their odds. It wouldn't be the first time he and Lance proved the impossible possible.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and yell about these dumb boys with me on Tumblr: astrolatte. My asks are opened!
> 
> Also, comments are nice, too! I always try to reply to you all :D


End file.
